In Major League Baseball the NY Yankees are a step closer to wrapping up home field advantage for the one game wild card playoff game next week, following their 9-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays last night.
Gary Sanchez took Jalen Beeks deep for a three run homer and drove in four runs overall on the night, while Luis Severino returned to the form that had him talked about as a potential Cy Young award winner earlier in the season. Severino went five innings, giving up two runs on four hits and won his 19th game of the year, making a good case for starting the winner take all game on October third, a game that will most likely be played at Yankee Stadium since the Oakland A's suffered an 11-inning 10-8 loss to the Seattle Mariners last night.
That gives the Yankees a 2 1/2 game lead for the first wild card spot and that home field advantage with just five games left to play in the regular season.
Noah Syndergaard pitched well for the NY Mets for six innings but the bullpen following him did not and the N.L. east champion Atlanta Braves went on to top the NY Mets 7-3. There's potential trouble for Atlanta heading into the playoffs, though, as starting shortstop Dansby Swanosn left with a sore left wrist, the same one that's bothered him on and off throughout the season.
The Red Sox and Orioles were rained out last night, but there's still high drama in the final week of the season over on the senior circuit, where a number of races are still up for grabs.
In the N.L. central, the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers are separated by just half a game for the division title, and both clubs would love to avoid the one-game wild card by winning that division. Right now it's the Cubs clinging by their claws to that half game lead after being shut out 6-0 by the Pittsburgh Pirates last night while the Brewers toped the St. Louis Cardinals 12-4.
And that's where it gets complicated because the Cards are very much in the wild card hunt. The Brewers own that first slot right now, with the Colorado Rockies currently claiming the second and the Cardinals just a half game behind them. But the Rockies have won five in a row and haven't given up on winning the N.L. west outright and avoiding the wild card game, and why not? They're just a half game behind the division leading L.A. Dodgers for that honor, the Dodgers suffering a 4-3 loss against the Arizona Diamondbacks last night after a 9th inning walk-off home run by Eduardo Escobar.
It's a crowded field to be sure with lots of permutations possible over the final week of the season to see who makes it in, and who's forced to play a one game wild card to move on. Stay tuned.
Big win for the St. Michael's Purple Knights men's soccer team, handing regionally ranked Saint Rose their first loss of the season in a 1-0 win at Duffy Field.
Junior Jacob von Giebel tallied the only goal of the contest, his sixth of the season, as the Knights improve to 3-4-1 on the year. Saint Rose lost for the first time this season in eight games.
In Johnson, Tristan Salgado scored twice for Northern-Vermont but it wasn't enough for the Bdgers to overcome a four-goal onslaught by Eastern Nazarene as the Lions came away with a 4-2 win. The Badgers are still over .500 at 5-3 on the year.
In college field hockey, Sarah Wells recorded a hat trick for Castelton in the Spartan's 5-2 win over Plymouth State. Wells also assisted on a goal to back up her recognition as last week's Little East Conference Offensive Player of the Week, and the Spartans remain undefeated in conference play and 6-2 on the season overall.
